Spirit Thief Benrinnes Bordeaux Red Wine Cask

This is the very last expression ever of Spirit Thief’s independent bottlings…but what a whisky it is…a cask strength, double distilled, single cask finished in a French wine cask. The Spirit Thief Benrinnes Bordeaux Red Wine Cask.

The Spirit Thief Benrinnes Bordeaux Red Wine Cask was double distilled at the Speyside Benrinnes Distillery in 2008. Bottled in 2019 it has spent 11 years in a first fill red-wine cask from Château Gruaud-Larose in the Bordaux region of France.

Then bottled at a cask strength of 55.2% ABV with absolutely nothing added, and of course non-chill filtered. This is a superb example of wine cask maturation, hand selected from the Benrinnes bond-store by Tasmania’s own ‘wine-cask’ experts – Spirit Thief.

This is one of those ‘happy-sad’ moments. It’s happy in that the whisky is an absolutely sensational independent bottling of the Benrinnes Distillery by Spirit Thief. It’s sad in that this is the very last of the ‘Exploration Series’ that will ever be available.

You see, it’s all gone. With the maturation (pardon the pun) of Spirit Thief as a company, they now do all their own distilling and their indy bottling days are in their rear-view mirror as they go from walking to running on their own spirit. We’ve managed to snag the last…a bit of an ‘about face’ for us I guess (we don’t often try to be ‘last in Australia!’) but in this case we’re pretty chuffed. The Spirit Thief Benrinnes Bordeaux is a fantastic, never-to-be-repeated whisky.

The “Exploration Series’ was one of the first Australian forays into wine-aged whisky. The Spirit Thief boys have committed to ex-wine cask maturation from the very first and continue to this day to specialise in the same with their own spirit.

Nose: Sweet nutty nougat with a citrus twist but there’s also a slightly salty-savoury note behind the sweetness.

Palate: A big spice burst first up but a solid creaminess of mouthfeel becomes apparent as the pepper fades. Big sweet red fruits cut through and there’s also crystallised ginger and custardy notes in there too.

Finish: Finish is long and constantly evolving – pepper morphs to sweet fruit morphs to dry tannins.

Distilled in September 2008, the Spirit Thief Benrinnes Bordeaux cask marks the beginning of a new era at the famed distillery.

After 33 years of partial triple-distillation, in 2007 the company returned to double-distillation techniques, allowing for a full-bodied spirit, ripe for single cask exploration. Cask #1700253 is a full maturation in a 1st Fill Château Gruaud-Larose cask, a winery in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Bordeaux region of France.

Bottled at natural cask strength, this whisky harnesses aromas of marzipan, custard crème and chamomile tea, with deep lashings on the palate of dark chocolate, baked peaches, rock candy and a subtle hint of umami to finish.

Like all good things in this industry, Spirit Thief is an evolution of an idea that has stayed true to its foundations. In 2015, three young whisky enthusiasts, wanted to age a few 20L casks in varietal specific toasted and charred red-wine casks. They chose Tempranillo and Shiraz and worked with Redlands distiller Dean Jackson (now Spring Bay) on those pilot casks.

A few years later they suddenly found themselves as independent bottlers wanting to learn more of the craft and have more of a hand in creating their offerings.
They got hands on experience distilling alongside some of Australia’s leading distillers (Peter Bignell, Casey Overeem and worked with the Adam’s boys to name a few). In late 2018 with some investment in place, they got the opportunity to be the first to gypsy brew and distil using White Label’s state-of-the-art distilling equipment in, Huntingfield Tasmania, alongside industry workhorse Anthony White (Nant & Belgrove).

Patriarch Drive in Huntingfield is now their base, alongside Overeem, White Label, Heartwood and TIB (100m up the road)…so it’s a veritable avenue of distilling know-how!